Two Minute Minor: Holy Crap I Agree With Gary Bettman on Something OR If I Can Be Serious for 2 Minutes

Editor's Note: This was in fact delivered to me last Wednesday but... well I've been having a hectic week. Didn't want to rob you of the goodness so... deadlines be damned here is last week's Two Minute Minor Presented in its entirety. I had wanted to write a counterpoint to this, and I still might, not because I disagree with Nick's opinion so much as I'm a lawyer and arguing in the alternative is the kind of crap we do instead of going to the movies. For now I leave it to you dear reader to form your own point-counterpoint on this, the most important issue facing the game today.

No, I don’t think the RBK Edge Jerseys are cool. I still laugh at the glowing puck idea. The NHL logo should be orange again and the divisions should go back to having real names and the home team should wear white. I tend to disagree with almost every decision that Gary Bettman has made. But he made a comment last week that I actually agreed with. And since I can’t remember the last time that happened (because it never has), I had to make it this weeks 2MM.

"If you say you can't have contact with the head, you are going to reduce the amount of checking in the game and you are going to change the way the game is played." - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, TSN's "Off the Record."

That’s the quote. And I know, it’s another one of his blanket statements, but for once, he’s actually right. Let’s read into this and elaborate on it a little bit because (if he won’t, someone should) hits to the head are all the rage this year. Before I go on I do need to preface that this article pertains to legal open ice hits to the head. NOT illegal boarding hits from behind.

There have been 2 reactions that I’ve heard regarding open ice hits to the head this year:

1. A player skating with his head down and not paying attention is doing so at his own risk. It’s his fault.
2. There’s no reason to hit that hard. It’s an obvious attempt to injure. It’s the hitters fault. Hits to the head should be banned outright.

God, it hurts me to say that I agree with Bettman. Banning hits to the head would lead to little or no open ice hits. Need me to print that in BTT language to really drill it home? Here:


FACT: Banning hits to the head would lead to little or no open ice hits.

Who the hell wants that? Look, hockey is a full contact sport. Players are going to get hurt. There is nothing that can be done about this and it’s a risk every athlete takes. Even sprinters get hurt sometimes and all they do is run. In a straight line. They don’t run into anyone or anything. But the risk is there. You’re doing things with your body that it was not designed to do. What do you expect?

How about instead of eliminating something from the game, we find a way to achieve the same goal (less injuries) by adding something to the game? If it means safer hitting, or even more hitting, or even harder and more intense hitting, then I am all for the required use of cages or facemasks.

*Pauses to allow for initial negative rejection by readers*

The NFL has been using them since what, the 60’s? Meanwhile the NHL didn’t even require helmets until 1979. And they were so serious about it that they had a grandfather clause allowing any player who signed a contract prior to the passing of the rule to continue playing without a helmet. Thanks to that clause, it wasn’t until 1995(!!!) that every player in the league skated with a helmet. The NHL is not the most progressive league in sports (WHAT?!), so this could be a very long debate. Remember, this is a league that initially did not allow forward passes. Look how far we’ve come. We can fix this.

I think players need a little more protection out there. Don’t discourage hitting… Encourage it! Embrace it! Just make it safer. I believe a well timed hit in hockey to be far worse than the hardest hit in football. Yet football players seem much better protected against hard (and frequent) hits. A helmet cage is worn in juniors and at the college level. And what’s with the Nike/Bauer helmet? Compared to just about every other helmet (RBK, CCM, Mission) worn in the NHL, it’s easily the lowest profile. Can’t we add a little bulk to these things? Get some more padding in there? Maybe implement a more effective chin strap… one that players will be required to use. I hate to go back to the NFL again, but look at those chin straps. Now look at ours. And never mind the device, look at how they are worn. Hockey players keep them so loose, they don’t do anything. So how about instead of pussifying the game, we make some changes that allow for the game to be played at a higher level.

Something like the Cascade helmet. I don’t mean let’s use this helmet specifically. But it’s a step in the right direction and if 3 or 4 companies put out something like it, the players would still get to choose what helmet they wear. The game could remain unchanged but it would just be SAFER. Here’s the Cascade helmet if you’ve never seen it. It’s probably the most innovative hockey helmet ever made and it looks pretty damn cool: http://www.cascadeicehockey.com/

In 2001, 3 Nascar drivers all died in their race cars. Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin, and Adam Petty all lost control of their cars (at different times at different tracks, and for different reasons), hit the wall anywhere from 150-190 mph and were killed. Did Nascar slow the cars down? No. Did they outlaw bumping? No. Did they make any changes to try to limit the number of crashes per race? No. Did they take anything out of the sport? No. First. they mandated the use of a full face helmet and the use of a head and neck restraint device. And within only a few years, every track on the circuit installed a “safer barrier” soft wall system in the corners that dissipates impact a lot safer than concrete does. Today, most (if not all) Nascar sanctioned tracks use a safer barrier system around 100% of the track, including the inside walls.

# of racing fatalities in Nascar caused by high speed impact with the wall since then: 0. Nothing was taken away. They didn’t force a change in how the drivers compete. They just made it safer.
So that’s my point. Don’t change the game. Just make it safer to allow the game to go on UNCHANGED. But there should be more protection, be it from a wire cage or a full face shield… with a chin strap that serves a real purpose. Or from a completely new helmet design not yet invented. Try that first. Let them hit each other as hard as they can and if guys are still getting hurt, THEN maybe take a look at outlawing certain types of hits. But try to keep them in before taking them out. Players would bitch, for sure. But they’d get over it. If you’re concerned that a cage or full shield would affect fighting, my response is this: They already drop their sticks and gloves before they go. How hard is it to pop a buckle and drop the helmet too? Exactly, it’s not. Fight like men, take the damn helmets off.

A lot of guys weren’t happy about being forced to wear helmets but now it’s hard to understand why anyone would skate without one. Or how a goalie could face shooters with no mask. But as more players got hurt, things changed. Did we outlaw lifting the puck? No, we let goalies wear head and facial protection. So with hits to the head causing frequent injuries, I think it’s only natural to beef up head protection altogether. Take too many things out of the game and there won’t be any game left.

Agree with me? Don’t agree with me? Leave a comment and let me know! Just try to leave your name and where you’re from.

That’s it for this week, see you on the 26th.


Here’s something completely unrelated, but I thought I’d throw it in here anyway. Can you name all 30 NHL teams in less than 5:00 without cheating? You might be surprised. I made it to 29 teams and stared at the screen for 3 minutes because I simply could not remember that last team. Check it out:


http://www.mentalfloss.com/quiz/quiz.php?q=455